Your home insurance covers far more than the home itself and its contents. If you read your homeowners policy from Noyes Hall & Allen Insurance of Portland, ME carefully, you’ll spot a section called “other structures.”
What are other structures?
Other structures refer to any buildings on your property that are not directly attached to the home. Those include fences, sheds, detached garages, workshops, etc. It also includes your backyard gazebo, and the pool house, if you are fortunate to have a pool.
Similar to the policy section that covers your home’s contents, the other structures section describes your coverage and its limits. Your other structures will be covered for a percentage of the replacement value of your home. It is typically ten percent of the value. That is not per structure, but for all other structures as a whole.
That means if your insured home value is $300,000 and your other structures coverage provides ten percent coverage, you have $30,000 of coverage for your workshop, fences, detached garage, and other buildings.
Other structures coverage is automatically included, whether or not you have any outbuildings. That’s so that you don’t have to call your insurance agent if you add a shed or build a small detached garage. “Other Structures” can’t be removed from a homeowners policy, and there’s no additional charge for the coverage.
Also, you are covered for the same perils as named in your home’s coverage. If your house has coverage for wind or hurricane damage, so do your other structures.
Call us at Noyes Hall & Allen Insurance in South Portland, ME at 207-799-5541 to learn more about other structures insurance. You can add to your coverage so your workshop or fences are fully insured.